Dem
47
GOP
53
Margaret Thatcher had a substantially genial public image, but was often a cutthroat operator behind the scenes. She had to be, to gain the kind of power she did, in the era she did. Yesterday, Melania Trump channeled the spirit of the former PM, delivering a speech that was fairly amiable, and yet that threw her husband right under the bus.
The subject of the First Lady's announced-at-the-last-second address was... Jeffrey Epstein. If you had "Melania speaks out on Epstein" on your April 9 bingo card, you win automatically, without even needing the other four items in the line. You can read the text of her remarks here, but this is the crux of the thing:
The lies linking me with the disgraceful Jeffrey Epstein need to end today.
The individuals lying about me are devoid of ethical standards, humility, and respect. I do not object to their ignorance, but rather, I reject their mean-spirited attempts to defame my reputation.
I have never been friends with Epstein. Donald and I were invited to the same parties as Epstein from time to time, since overlapping in social circles is common in New York City and Palm Beach.
To be clear, I never had a relationship with Epstein or his accomplice, Maxwell. My email reply to Maxwell cannot be categorized as anything more than casual correspondence. My polite reply to her email doesn't amount to anything more than a trivial note.
I am not Epstein's victim. Epstein did not introduce me to Donald Trump. I met my husband, by chance, at a New York City party in 1998. This initial encounter with my husband is documented in detail in my book, Melania.
Remember folks, that's Melania, available wherever books are sold.
Exactly what prompted this incident is something of a mystery. It certainly looks like the First Lady is trying to get out ahead of... something, and probably something whose release was imminent. There is an e-mail between Melania Trump and Ghislaine Maxwell that is referenced in the remarks, and that was made public yesterday, after the First Lady spoke. Was that it? The e-mail is fairly benign, as far as these things go:
Dear G!
How are you? Nice story about JE in NY mag. You look great on the picture. I know you are very busy flying all over the world. How was Palm Beach? I cannot wait to go down. Give me a call when you are back in NY. Have a great time!
Love,
Melania
The First Lady is clearly lying about how distant her relationship with Maxwell/Epstein was; this message plus the many photos where they are shown together make that clear. Still, yesterday's presser was guaranteed to bring mountains attention to the message. If that's what the bee in her bonnet was, it would have been better to just let it go. So, it's very possible that something else is about to drop. That said, it's also possible that Melania's skin is so thin, and that her understanding of the Streisand Effect is so poor, that she did pull the trigger based entirely on this relatively paltry "revelation."
Whatever her motivations, they were certainly selfish, which is par for the course for her. Now, in a "lull" period of the Iran War—a war that might well have been launched, in part, to distract from Epsteinpot Dome—the story is right back in the headlines. Not only that, but the First Lady went on the record in her address encouraging Congress to investigate the matter fully.
As you might imagine, Melania's husband was none too happy about this. Initially, the White House claimed it did not know about the First Lady's plans, but then later it turned out that was not true. Meanwhile, the President did not attack the First Lady directly, but he did get on his social media site for sociopaths (sociomedia?) to uncork an absolute bender of a posting spree. Among the lowlights were the wall of text (above), as well as a disturbing video of a woman in Florida being beaten to death with a hammer. We're not linking to that one; you'll have to find it for yourself if you really want to see it. His ostensible reason was that the murderer is a Haitian immigrant, and therefore that Joe Biden and "radical judges" are culpable for the woman's death. That said, there are some who are interpreting the video as a veiled threat against the First Lady herself. If so, that is very dark. Very, very dark.
So, will next week be another Epstein week? Does this incident suggest that Melania has turned against Donald, and will be working to undermine him? Either is possible. (Z)